The Move to Provo

Mark's mom and dad have decided to move up to Provo to help Wes and Lori.  As much as we know that it will be a good thing for all of them, we will miss them...... A LOT!!!  It was sad to see them pack up their house and move out...

We will miss that house, but we all fell in love with the Provo house the second we saw it and walked inside!  

I mean really, it's right up against the mountain.  There are big beautiful trees around their house, the temple only a few blocks away, plenty of room for visitors :), and the kids favorite part....a basement!  It is perfect for them!  Everyone went up to Provo to help them move in (except Mike and Marci, we sure missed them!)

It didn't take us long to unpack the truck so after, we headed to BYU campus to play!

Bowling at the Wilk...

There was a lot of silliness going on! (Tom was on one!)

It was fun!
Later that night we played at the park.  I can't get over how beautiful it is there!  It is so cool and crisp.  I love the mountains and the fresh air.  I love the people there and I love BYU!  :)  We sat at the park and watched the sunset.  However, my little camera did the sunset NO justice!!!

Here are the brothers...

Sunday we went to Wes and Lori's ward.  They were having a special fast for Wes so it was good to be there for the fast and testimony meeting.
After church we had a couple hours before we had to be at Lori's sister house for dinner.  She lives in Northern SLC so we decided to stop at Temple Square for a while.

The boys...

The girls...

The HOT mom and dad!

These shots were Tommy's idea.  He is such a cute big brother!

Grandma and Megs...

Cousins enjoying Temple Square...

Lori's sister's house was at the very top of a hill and had a gorgeous view!

Phil gave Wes a priesthood blessing and then we ended the fast with Lori's family.  It was such a neat spiritual experience to be there.  Wes and Lori are amazing people with such great strength!

The food was so good and I don't have a great picture of the backyard, but it was AMAZING and the kids got "lost" playing outside for hours.

They didn't want to leave so we practically dragged them out kicking and screaming!  :)

It was such a great weekend!  We will miss Phil and Lu, but hope to be able to visit their new home often!!!!

First Day of School

Rachel started school the Friday before the other kids so I didn't get any pictures of her.  :(   But, here are the other four...

Tommy is in 5th grade and Sam in 3rd grade, both at Las Vegas Day School.  Megan is doing Kindergarten again, but at Cumorah Academy. When we decided last minute to have Megan repeat Kindergarten, there were no spaces left at Day School, so since Jessica would be at Cumorah for preschool, we enrolled her there.  It worked out great!

They were both brave and excited walking into their new school together...

Megan getting a little nervous in line...

and a lot more nervous in the classroom!

But she did great!  They all did!  There's still tears after the first week of school, but each day has gotten better and better!

Tommy turns 11!!!!

Mark had to work and Rachel had her first (half-day) of school.  But Tori and Tysen came over in the morning to help celebrate.

The "skateboard birthday theme" began!  We gave him the skateboard...

and they gave him the accessories....

Tommy and Tysen spent the whole day outside doing "tricks."

Even in the 110 degree weather!  Every now and they they would jump in the neighbor's pool to cool off.

That night we went to the Fifes with the Downeys and another family, the Cranes, whom we haven't seen since Dental school.  They have four kids, so between us, there were 20 kids!  Even though this get-together just happened to fall on Tommy's birthday, it turned into a great birthday party!

Well, until Tommy got hurt, really bad!  He never really recovered after that.  Trying to get a photo with the birthday cake with him looking happy wasn't easy!

And finally, smiling!

He pretty much had a children's choir sing the Happy Birthday song!

Happy Birthday Tommy!  We love you!